Of Water and Fire
by Chibi-Penguin-Chan
Summary: There's a book. A book owned by a woman stuck in a marriage she can't stand. This book says it all. How the Avatar was found, how the war ended, and of course, how love can be found where you least expect it. Zutara, possibly Taang, haven't decided yet.
1. Chapter 1

"Mommy, read me a story," a young child said, crawling into her mother's lap, about ready to fall asleep anyway.

"I have no stories to tell," her mother responded, smiling fondly at her daughter.

"You always have stories to tell," the child protested. "You're like a walking story book!"

"What do you want to hear about?"

"I don't care; I just want to hear a story."

"How about a story about my great, great Aunt," the mother asked.

"Is it a love story?" the girl asked hopefully.

"In some ways," the mother responded.

"Let's hear it then!"

"Ok, my dear. Now, this story takes place a long, long time ago. A time when war had broken out over these very lands. The Fire Nation had attacked the rest of the world, and the Avatar was missing. There was little the people could do, until one day two kids found him. They were from a Water Tribe, a brother and sister. Together with these children, the Avatar worked to save the world from the terror that had broken out."

"But there isn't a war right now mommy," the girl interrupted. "Does that mean that the Avatar and the two kids won?"

"Yes, sweet child, they did. But this isn't a story about how the Avatar saved the world. This is a story about how a girl met her prince."

"Did she live happily ever after?"

"Of course, my dear, of course," the mother lied. Telling a young girl such as her daughter what had really happened would be wrong. She was not yet old enough to comprehend what the deeper meaning of the story was.

"Just like the other princesses in my story books?"

"In a way, yes."

"Do all princess live happily ever after, or just the ones they tell stories about?"

"I'm not sure," the mother lied once again. "I haven't met any princesses."

"If you ever meet one, you should ask her."

"If I do, then I will most certainly do just that," the mother promised. "Now, it is time for you to go to sleep, dearest."

"But I didn't get to hear my story," the girl protested.

"I'll tell it to you another night, I promise."

"Ok," she said as she yawned widely. Her mother smiled contently as she placed her beloved daughter in her bed, gently tucking her in.

"Sleep tight," she whispered, gently closing the door.

"What did she need?" the woman's husband asked as she entered the room, taking a seat near him.

"A bedtime story, what else?"

"Which one did you tell her?" he asked, more for conversation's sake than actual curiosity. This didn't go unnoticed by his wife, but she humored him and continued anyway.

"We didn't get to finish it; she was too tired. I started one I shouldn't have."

"Which one? She's seven now, I don't think you should still be sheltering her so much."

A familiar argument, one they've had many times. She didn't want her daughter exposed to the dangers of the world; he believed she didn't know enough of them. "I don't think she was ready to hear of my great, great aunt yet."

The father looked shocked, "You were going to tell about _that?_"

"I didn't did I! I told you that story was too grown up for her."

"I should say so," the man said in a dismissive manner. "It's bad enough you keep the book around."

"It's a family heirloom. My grandfather wrote that from her original diary entries and stories from other relatives."

"I still don't like you keeping it. Brings shame on the family if you ask me."

Nobody had asked him. She doubted she ever would. "I think I should get to bed, I'll see you in the morning." She walked away, not bothering to wait for the goodnight she knew her husband wouldn't say to her. She didn't, however, turn into the bedroom. Instead she went a little further down the hall, and entered a small and modest study. There were few books in it, and a tiny desk, barely big enough to fit a decent sized book on it. But the book she wanted wasn't big at all, she checked to make sure that no one was looking before balancing herself in the chair and reaching on top of the bookcase. She felt around for awhile, before finally grasping her hidden treasure.

If anyone saw this particular volume, they would simply pass it by. There was no title, and the cover was a plain brown, hardly eye-catching. Yet this woman carefully blew the dust off of it and held it close to her heart as if it were her last lifeline. Tenderly, delicately, she opened the first page and began to reread the words she once ago knew so well. This story was not ordinary; no it wasn't even a story really. This was the start of her family, and no husband with a heart as cold as ice, or a daughter to pure to ever know this, could make her dispose of this wondrous treasure. This was her family, and nothing could change that.

**XxX**

**Of Water and Fire**

**XxX**

The water tribe, that was where it all started. That was where my life started in a sense. True I grew up there, but if I had simply gone there on a visit and these events occurred, I would still count it as the place where my true life began. It was where I found the Aang, the Avatar, and where I met _him. _He wasn't kind to me when we first met, but who could blame him? We were caught in a war, whether we wanted to or not. His orders were to capture the Avatar, and at the time, I was an obstacle.

Some people refer to water and fire as complete opposites, yin and yang. It was in a sense true; fire destroyed and water healed. A wise man told me that, and at the time I hadn't really understood what he meant. He was a great fire master, and he was telling me that he wished he could have control of water like I did.

I learned later. Much later really, but I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Katara. I was born to a small water village. At the time I was the only bender there. All the others had been murdered. My grandmother said that I gave the people hope, while my brother Sokka simply said it was annoying and didn't want anything to do with it. But it was my water bending that caused me to find the Avatar.

By looking at him, one could tell he was an airbender. The arrows on his head and arms gave it away, but to actually talk to him… you would soon begin to doubt this child like being could ever save the hurting planet. He was so carefree, even if it was for a short time. It was around that same time that I was first introduced to _him_. It would be a lie for me to say that I instantly fell in love with him… no that was far from the truth.

He knew exactly what he wanted, and at the time I believed it was solely to capture the Avatar and turn him into the Fire Nation, it wasn't until later I realized how wrong I was.

But how could I have known back then? We were polar opposites, and whenever we saw each other… well, we fought. Not just argued, we would attack each other out of pure instinct. Unadulterated loathing. He symbolized everything that went wrong in my life: the war, losing my mother, and the attacks on our village. I was taught to hate Fire Nation, and I did just that. What a terrible thing to teach children, to hate someone simply because of where they were from. We were at war with the Nation, but that didn't mean that all citizens from the Land of Fire were evil and only thought of conquering the planet.

**XxX**

Hearing footsteps, she quickly shut the book not wanting to be caught reading the forbidden story. The woman carefully tucked the small amount of text into a pocket in her nightgown and silently made her way to her bedroom.

**XxX**

**This is more of an introduction to the story, so the rest of the chapters should be longer.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I didn't update this one until my Naruto story was done. Sorry for the wait.**

**XxX**

"My poor dear," the woman said, setting the now filled glass of water on the bedside table. "What a high fever."

"Mommy, I don't feel good…"

"I know sweetheart, but if you get some rest I'm sure you'll be better by tomorrow."

"Of course she will be," said a gruff voice from behind them.

"Daddy?" the sick child asked, turning her head.

"She's my child after all," the man continued, ignoring his daughter. "She'll be healthy in no time."

"Do you think so daddy?"

"Of course he does," the mother said smoothing the girl's hair. "Now why don't you get some rest so you can play with your friends in the morning."

"Ok, goodnight mommy, goodnight daddy."

The couple walked out of their daughter's room, wordlessly going different directions once the door was closed. He went to the living room where he would read the paper, and she went to go read something far more interesting.

She knew reading the book wasn't the best of ideas, but she was drawn to it, and finishing it was something she'd like to do regardless of what she was told. That's how it was the first few times she read the story. It always captivated her, putting her in almost a trance-like state until she reached the last page. It was almost obsessive.

She stealthily pulled her treasure out from between the mattress, before curling up on her bed to read. She vaguely realized how preposterous she was being, a grown woman hiding just so she could read a book about her family history. But still, she checked the door to make sure no one was looking before opening the cover and continuing to read.

**XxX  
Of Water and Fire  
XxX**

Zuko. That was his name, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. A sworn enemy. His father was the cause of the war that took my mother away from me. It wasn't anything personal to start with, but again, that's what I was taught.

But it became personal. It became a very personal matter for me. Having to live in fear that he might show up and kidnap Aang while we slept… or worse. At times it seems impossible to stop that nagging voice in the back of your head that knows nothing but negative, and wants you know just how bad things could be, and are. That voice kept me up at night more than a few times. After awhile I began to learn how to ignore it; how to force myself not to think about it at all. You just couldn't.

Instead I would focus on things like perfecting my Water Bending techniques, keeping Sokka out of trouble, and making sure no harm came to Aang. At one point I believed that I loved Aang. In fact, I still do. However, it was Zuko that made me realize just _how _I loved him. I felt the same way about Aang as I did for Sokka. He was like a younger brother. I just wish I could have figured that out sooner, it would've spared him a lot of heartbreak.

But unfortunately life for us seemed to be a constant heartache. Sokka and I both had to deal with the loss of our mother and our father's absence. Aang had to go through life knowing he was the only Airbender left; he had to live knowing that everyone he'd ever known before he sealed himself was long gone. Sokka lost Princess Yue. I saw Jet die. Aang couldn't be with me. It was a vicious cycle, yet we got through it. We had to. There were more important things for us to deal with than our love lives. Like staying alive ourselves.

It wasn't always an easy task, and at times I was sure we wouldn't make it. Yet we always managed to somehow avoid death. I am so grateful that I could heal people; it saved us more than once.

Toph saved us too. At first I wasn't entirely sure I liked having her join us, but without her we couldn't have accomplished everything we managed to. Her abilities as an Earthbender were amazing, and (although I didn't always approve of her teaching methods) Aang would never have managed to be as great as he is now without her help. I'm so glad she was part of our group, even if we were so different. She completed our group.

I sometimes wondered how Sokka managed to be… Sokka. Throughout all of his hardships he somehow managed to keep everyone's spirit up. Occasionally I thought that maybe he was faking it all. His whole attitude. I knew there was no way he could always be a form of entertainment; I'd seen his serious side. Yet I couldn't help but think that maybe when he was being a bit strange, that it was just a show to keep us from falling into the darkness that seemed to want to swallow us. Then again, I have been wrong before. But if there's one thing I do know about him, it's that even though we didn't always get along, I couldn't wish for a better brother.

It was the four of us. Together we were going to save the world. Yet there was always someone stopping us from doing so. Zuko. I'm not sure when it happened… maybe when Toph introduced us to Iroh properly, but somewhere along the line I had the feeling he had changed. That he no longer wanted to do us harm, that everything I had been taught was a lie, that he was an exception to the constant stereotypes I had heard about the Fire Nation.

I thought he confirmed all of this. We were in a cave… a beautiful one at that. Crystals of some sort were all around us, seeming to glow in a sort of green light. I'd touched my necklace when I had a sort of flashback. I remembered what the Waterbending master had told me at the North Pole. That it was a sign of engagement… I looked at the Prince when I remembered why I still had it. He had returned it to me at one point.

Maybe that's why I opened up to him (though later I would swear it was only because he had made me angry). Why I told him about my mother, how she was taken from me because of the war started by his father. I never imagined that he'd been through the same thing.

That was why I offered to heal his scar. That was why is betrayal hurt so much. That is one of the main reasons why I still despise Azula.

**XxX**

"Mommy…? I puked on my bed," her daughter said, startling the woman.

"My poor thing," she said as she tucked the book back in its hiding place. "Here, you lay down in my bed and I'll clean that up for you, ok?"

"Ok mommy."


End file.
